A two-month investigation by The Baltimore Sun highlighted troubles at a LifeLine Inc. group home for disabled foster children, where a 10-year-old died in July. The Sun showed that state regulators were left in the dark about significant problems at LifeLine, including the founder's conviction for felony arson, the company's financial woes and reports to police about alleged abuse. As a result of that coverage state officials conceded that they have not monitored issues related to financing and corporate governance of health care providers, and launched reforms. The home closed in July.
A federal lawsuit against a Maryland state contractor centered around a disabled foster child who was injured at a troubled group home has been moved from Pennsylvania to Maryland, records show.
The Maryland attorney general's Medicaid fraud control team is investigating LifeLine Inc., the state contractor that managed a group home for disabled foster children where a 10-year-old Baltimore boy died last summer.
A guardian for a disabled foster child who was injured at a troubled group home last year has sued the state contractor that ran the facility and the Maryland government agencies responsible for supervising its care.
The disabled foster children removed from a troubled Laurel-area group home this summer were placed by Maryland regulators in facilities where their nurses lacked training for their complex medical needs, inspection records show.
The state senator who has been scrutinizing Maryland's regulation of group homes for disabled foster children is questioning results of an investigation into the death of 10-year-old Damaud Martin.
Maryland health regulators found multiple violations at group home where foster child died but none that caused his death
On the night that 10-year-old Damaud Martin died at a troubled group home in Anne Arundel County, there were not enough staffers to handle the care specified for the severely disabled residents, according to the nurse on duty at the time.
A 10-year-old disabled foster child died recently at group home in Anne Arundel County that Maryland health regulators were in the process of closing down, state health secretary Joshua Sharfstein confirmed Friday.
The state medical examiner has ruled that the death in July of 10-year-old Damaud Martin in a state-regulated group home was caused by complications from cerebral palsy and past head trauma — severe conditions stemming from abuse the Baltimore boy suffered more than six years ago.
As Maryland health officials begin reforming their oversight of services for adults and children with disabilities, advocates are demanding greater urgency and specific fixes to address a reported increase in abuse and neglect of disabled people.
Health officials aim to strengthen oversight of facilities for disabled foster children.
Prince George's County group home employees fired for abusing autistic child
The July death of a 10-year-old disabled foster child has been ruled a homicide — six years after the Baltimore city boy's mother shook him into a coma-like state, Baltimore police announced Monday.
Relatives of a 10-year-old disabled foster child who died at an Anne Arundel County group home last month and the guardian of another resident whose inadequate care there led to a serious illness have filed notice that they will sue the state for failing to supervise the facility's management company.
Maryland social services foster children abuse neglect audit
Maryland's health department has alerted state contractors caring for disabled adults and children that they are obligated to report incidents at their facilities that involve police, fire and medical assistance.
State officials said at a legislative briefing Thursday that their agencies must do more to flag financial mismanagement at group homes — problems similar to those that went unheeded at an Anne Arundel County facility where a 10-year-old died this month.
The Maryland health agency responsible for overseeing medical facilities, including the Anne Arundel group home where a disabled foster child died this month, is moving to reduce the number of facilities it inspects across the state — even as it acknowledges that thousands of inspections and complaints have not been properly handled.
As The Baltimore Sun investigated years of financial and regulatory problems surrounding LifeLine, a Maryland company that operated group homes for adults and children, requests for comment went out to the five people listed as members of its board of directors. That produced some unusual responses.
Maryland's Board of Public Works, a panel that includes the governor and other top state officials, did little to scrutinize millions in contracts it awarded in recent years to the financially strapped operator of a group home where a 10-year-old boy died this month, records show.
Maryland lawmakers and child advocates called Monday for an investigation into regulators' oversight of a troubled group home operator, asking why the state continued to give the company millions in taxpayer dollars despite long-standing financial and regulatory problems.
When Maryland's government hires a company to provide around-the-clock nursing care to severely disabled foster children — arguably the state's most vulnerable residents — it requires the contractor to have its business affairs in order. But LifeLine, which attracted media attention after the recent death of a 10-year-old resident, had many signs that it was struggling financially to staff its Laurel apartments with an appropriate number of nurses.
Two Maryland lawmakers said they will ask a state Senate committee to explore the death of a 10-year-old disabled foster child who was in the care of a group home.